leonard



Jan. 31, 1956 M. E. LEONARD 2,732,932

GARMENT HANGER Filed July 6, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Mayo E. Leonard IN VEN TOR.

Jan. 31,1956 M. E. LEONARD 2,732,932

GARMENT HANGER Filed July 6, 19515 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig. 4

Mayo ELeonard INVENTOR.

My Em United States Patent GARMENT HANGER Mayo E. Leonard, Toledo, Ohio Application July 6, 1953, Serial N 0. 366,130

5 Claims. (Cl. 223-95) My invention relates to garment hangers and is designed as an improvement over the hanger forming the subject matter of my United States Patent No. 2,615,604 dated October 28, 1952.

. The primary object of the instant invention is to provide a hanger for womens skirts embodying spring tensioned separable skirt grips for insertion in the waist band of a skirt to frictionally grip the band and securely suspend the skirt for quick, easy removal from the grips by merely pulling downwardly on the skirt.

Still another object is to provide in such a skirt hanger skirt grips adapted to be preset to grip waist bands of different sizes with a tensioning spring exerting the same tension against the grips in any selected setting of the grips so that skirt bands of different sizes will be gripped alike by the skirt grips.

Still another object is to provide a skirt hanger having the above advantages and which is safe to use, easy to apply, and comparatively inexpensive to manufacture.

Other and subordinate objects together with the precise nature of my improvements will be readily understood when the succeeding description and claims are read with reference to the drawings accompanying and forming part of this specification.

In said drawings:

Figure l is a view in side elevation of my improved skirt hanger in the preferred embodiment thereof illustrating the manner in which the skirt grips grip the waist band of a skirt;

Figure 2 is an enlarged view in end elevation of the same with the skirt shown in broken lines;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary view in vertical longitudinal center taken on the line 33 of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary view in horizontal section partly broken away and taken on the line 44 of Figure 3;

Figure 5 is an enlarged view in vertical-transverse section partly broken away and taken on the line 5-5 of Figure 3;

Figure 6 is a fragmentary enlarged view partly in vertical longitudinal section and partly in side elevation of a portion of one end of the hanger;

Figure 7 is an enlarged fragmentary view in perspective of the shank of the hanger hook;

Figure 8 is an enlarged view in perspective of one of the guide pins for the skirt grip carrying slides; and

Figure 9 is an exploded view in perspective of parts of the hanger.

Referring to the drawings by numerals, my improved skirt hanger comprises an elongated tubular hanger bar 1 of any suitable material rotatable on a central hanger hook 3 of rod material having its shank 5 fitted in vertical openings 7 in said bar and secured in said openings 7 in a manner to be described.

A pair of skirt grip carrying slides 9 are provided on the hanger bar 1 at opposite sides of the suspension hook 3. The slides 9 are elongated and of inverted channelshape to fit over and straddle the hanger bar and embody vertical, parallel sides 11, depending below said bar. At inner confronting ends thereof said slides are provided, respectively, with an upturned curved horn 13 curving toward the outer end of the slide, the horns 13 providing finger grips for sliding the slides longitudinally along the hanger bar 1 toward each other.

A pair of coil springs 15 in the hanger bar 1 at opposite sides of the shank 5 hear at inner ends thereof against opposite sides of said shank with their outer ends bearing against guide pins 17 in the slides 9 and thereby tension said slides for movement toward the outer ends of the bar. The guide pins 17 extend through the hanger bar 1 through pairs of diametrically opposite longitudinal guide slots 19 in said bar and coact with outer ends of the slots 19 to limit separative movement of the slides 9 on said bar 1. The outer end coils of the springs 15 seat in spaced circumferential grooves 21 in the guidepins 17 to interlock with said pins 17 and hold said pins 17 in place in the slides 9. The inner end coils of the springs 15 seat in vertically spaced circumferential grooves 23 in the shank 5 to interlock with said shank and hold the same in the hanger bar 1.

A pair of skirt grips 26 of elongated inverted channelshape fit over and straddle the slides 9 and are formed with depending parallel spaced sides 27 covering the sides 11 of the guides 9. The grips 26 are each formed with a pair of laterally spaced rectangular ears 29 adjacent their outer end depending from the sides 27 of the grips below the bar 1 and slides 9 and which are coplanar with the sides 27 of the grips.

A pair of resilient bumper strips 31 bridge the pairs of ears 29 in vertical position for yielding frictional engagement with a skirtband 33. The strips 31 are secured in protruding position between outer edges of the pairs of cars 29 by inturned edge flanges 35 on said edges frictionally fitting in longitudinal side grooves 37 in said strips. Inturned bottom lugs 36 on said edges bent under the bumper strips 31 hold the strips 31 in place.

The grips 26 are slidable longitudinally on the guides 9 to increase or reduce the spacing between the same according to the size of the waist band 33. Interlocking means is provided on the slides 9 and grips 26 for holding the grips in different adjusted positions comprising the following. The sides 11 of each slide 9 are provided below the bar 1 with a pair of longitudinally opposite comb-shaped slots 39 forming rectangular teeth 41 inclining upwardly toward the outer ends of the slides. The grips 26 are provided with cross pins 43 adjacent the inner ends thereof adapted to be lifted in the slots 39 above the teeth 41 by lifting of the grips 26 on the slides 9 as best shown in Figure 6, so that the grips 26 may be longitudinally adjusted along the slides 9 to space the grips 26 apart a selected distance, after which the pins 43 may be lowered between adjacent teeth 41 by lowering of the grips 26 to interlock the grips 26 and slides 9 and thereby hold said grips 26 in adjusted position as best shown in Figure l. The teeth are inclined as described to overly the pins 43 and thereby cam said pins 43 down between .the teeth under pressure of the skirt band 33 against the bumper strips tending to move the grips 26 toward each other.

In using the described skirt hanger the skirt grips 26 are adjusted on the slides 9 to space the same apart a distance slightly greater than the size of the skirt band 33. The slides 9 are then manipulated by pressing the horns 13 together to retract the grips 26 so that the bumper strips can be inserted downwardly in the waist band. The slides 9 and grips 26 are of course retracted in opposition to the springs 15 so that when said strips 31 are inserted in said band and the horns 13 released, the slides 9 will be urged oppositely to separate the same and also the grips 26 so that the skirt band 33 will be yieldingly gripped by the bumper strips 32 as shown in Figure 1. Obviously the grips 26 will be uniformly tensioned by the springs 15, through the slides 9, in any'setting of said grips so that skirt bands of diiferent sizes will be gripped with the same tension. As will be obvious, the skirt band may be pulled oil the pumper strips 31 to remove the skirt. In the gripping position thereof the skirt grips extend outwardly beyond the ends of the bar 1 to position the bumper strips 31 outwardly of said ends of the bar.

The foregoing will, it is believed, suffice to impart a cleartunderstanding of my invention without further explanation.

Manifestly the invention as described is susceptible of modification without departing from the inventive concept and right is herein reserved to such modifications as fall Within the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

1. In a skirt hanger an elongated tubular hanger bar,

a central hanger hook for said bar having a-shank extended through the bar, a pair of channel slides fitted over said bar at opposite sides of said hook and slidable longitudinally of said bar toward and from the outer ends of the bar, tension means in said bar acting to slide the slides toward the ends of the bar including coil springs operatively connected to the slides, channel skirt grips fitting over said slides and adjustable longitudinally on the slides inaccordance with the size of a skirt band, and coacting interlocking means on said slides and grips for holding the grips in different adjusted positions on the slides for movement by said slides toward the outer ends of the bar into gripping engagement with a skirt band.

2. A skirt hanger according to claim 1, and resilient bumper strips carried by said grips in vertical position below said slides and bar andprotruding out of said grips for frictional yielding engagement with a band of a skirt.

3. A skirt hanger according to claim2, said grips each comprising a pair of laterally spaced ears depending below said slides, one of said bumper strips being fixed between each pair of ears, said bumper strips protruding outwardly of said pairs of ears toward the ends of the bar to engage a band of a skirt.

4. A skirt hanger according to claim 1, said coacting means comprising side rows of teeth on said slides, and cross pins in said grips engageable between selected teeth of the rows, said teeth inclining upwardly of and toward the outer ends of said grips to cam the crosspins and grips downwardly under tension exerted by said band against said grips.

5. A skirt hanger according to claim 4, and slot and pin connections in said bar and slides respectively preventa ing the slides from turning on said bar, said springs interlocking with said last named pins and said shank to hold said last named pins in said slides and said shank in said bar.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,423,961 Buxton a July 15, 1947 2,494,711 Kusner et a1 Jan. 17, 1950 2,623,667 Salaman Dec. 30, 1952 

